Hi everyone. I’m Sergey, Lead Gameplay Designer on Control Resonant. We’re getting very close to our September 24 launch, and the team here in Espoo (and Stockholm) is incredibly excited to finally share what we’ve been building.
With Control Resonant, we’re introducing a new combat system built around Dylan’s shapeshifting melee weapon, the Aberrant. Combat is close-range and demanding, with enemies that require you to read their attacks, manage staggers and status effects, and time your dodges.
We knew that this new system would come with a new learning curve. So rather than relying on a handful of traditional difficulty levels, we wanted to give players much more control over individual parts of the experience.
Customize your experience
Control Resonant’s Assist Mode is a suite of customizable options designed to let you adjust the mechanics that might be getting in your way – without necessarily changing everything else.
For example, if enemies are overwhelming you by attacking from multiple directions, you can reduce Enemy Aggression. If you’re having trouble reading the timing of an attack, you can widen the Perfect Dodge Window or reduce Enemy Projectile Speed.
We spend a lot of time discussing the exact frame count of a standard dodge window – usually over far too much coffee – but the reality is that players have very different reaction times and ways of playing.
The same approach applies to damage and combat resources. You can independently adjust Incoming Damage, Outgoing Damage, and Outgoing Falter, which controls how quickly you break an enemy’s posture.
If managing Dylan’s supernatural abilities during a chaotic fight is becoming too much, you can increase Power Recovery Speed. You can also adjust Enhanced Melee Magnetizing to make positioning during melee attacks more forgiving.
And if you want to focus on exploring Manhattan and experiencing the story without the stress of combat, Assist Mode includes options such as Immortality, One-Hit Kills, and the new One-Hit Falters.
The idea is simple: instead of asking you to choose an overall difficulty, we let you change the specific parts of combat that aren’t working for you.
Try the game first
One thing we deliberately avoided was putting these settings in front of you before you even start your first playthrough.
Every player is different, and you haven’t played Control Resonant yet. Asking you to make decisions about mechanics you haven’t experienced doesn’t make much sense to us.
That’s why you can enable or disable Assist Mode at any point during gameplay. We want you to experience the intended combat rhythm first, get a feel for the game, and then adjust individual settings whenever you feel the need.
You can also choose from a set of Assist Mode Presets created around different ways of playing and then fine-tune individual settings from there.
Make it harder, too
There’s another important change from the first Control: Assist Mode can now make the game harder.
In the original game, the sliders could only reduce the challenge. In Control Resonant, they work in both directions. If you find the base game too forgiving, you can increase enemy aggression, make the Perfect Dodge Window smaller, and increase Incoming Damage to create a much more demanding experience.
We know players enjoy different kinds of challenges, so we wanted Assist Mode to give you that flexibility, too.
Play your way
We talk a lot internally about designer intent. We have a carefully crafted experience in mind for Control Resonant, balanced to be tense, demanding, and rewarding.
But our philosophy is straightforward: if you run into a wall and the friction becomes too much, we’d much rather you adjust the rules and keep playing than put the controller down and stop.
Your time is valuable, and how you experience the game is ultimately up to you. That’s why we don’t gate any trophies or achievements behind Assist Mode. Use the settings however you need to and play Control Resonant on your terms.
We can’t wait for you to get your hands on the Aberrant when Control Resonant launches on PS5 this September 24.
See you in Manhattan.